Security and Compliance Continue to Grow in Priority for the Second Year in a Row; Auditing AD Changes Supplants AD Health as the Top Support Requirement

PHOENIX, AZ -- (MARKET WIRE) -- September 12, 2006 -- NetPro Computing, Inc. today announced the
results of its fourth Active Directory survey, conducted at the Directory
Experts Conference (DEC) 2006 in Las Vegas, in March 2006. A record 235
participants, representing a strong cross section of organizations,
completed the survey over the course of the conference's four days. The
survey results provide a wealth of insight into the issues, practices and
priorities of the Microsoft Identity and Access Management community.
Survey respondents were primarily "hands on" practitioners within large
(over 100 employee) IT organizations and are responsible for supporting
very large numbers of directory users. The highlights and key findings of
this survey have been published in the DEC 2006 Attendee Survey Research
Summary are available now at
http://www.netpro.com/welcome/active_directory_responsibilities/index.cfm

"Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the DEC survey is our ability to
trend results year-over-year," said Gil Kirkpatrick, NetPro's CTO and DEC
founder. "These trends highlight changing priorities, such as the rise of
disaster recovery in importance, enable us to predict rates of enterprise
adoption for MIIS, MOM and other Microsoft practices and technologies, and
direct our attention to areas such as Security and Corporate Compliance,
where directory experts need the most assistance."

NetPro's DEC Survey highlights the evolving organizational priorities and
resource investments. In a sign of the times, Auditing Active Directory
(AD) Changes has supplanted Monitoring AD Health as the most important AD
support requirements. Regulatory compliance, security and disaster
recovery all gained in organizational mindshare, with 73%, 67%, and 53% of
respondents rating these areas respectively as higher or much higher in
priority than last year. IT organizations are dedicating an increasing
share of support team efforts to supporting these needs, with compliance
efforts alone accounting for 15.4% of overall team effort, up from 11.8% in
2005. "These changes highlight the increasing importance of AD in
supporting sensitive operations that could impact regulatory compliance,
necessitating careful control of changes and fast recovery in case of
disaster," said Kirkpatrick.

Among the many interesting findings contained in the survey white paper:

-- Business Executives are demanding consistent IT performance: 69% of IT
organizations are held accountable through Service Level Agreements
negotiated with their end-users.
-- Despite SOX and other regulatory pressures, a surprising 15% of survey
respondents lack formal processes for making and tracking AD changes, while
another 44% rely on manual, paper tracking.
-- AD professionals work hard - they juggle responsibilities for many
critical functions and multiple technologies and 21% claim their time is
over 100% booked!
-- IT organizations are increasingly seeking efficiency and consistency
through standardized processes: 55% of respondents are currently using the
ITIL framework and another 24% are considering its use.
-- Microsoft continues to make strong inroads into enterprise IT
infrastructures - Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) has achieved 49% usage
among respondents and Microsoft Identity Integration Server (MIIS)
deployment has leapt from 31% in the 2005 survey to 43% in 2006 survey, and
NetPro predicts MIIS will easily surpass 50% usage by 2007.

NetPro sets the Gold Standard for distributed infrastructure management.
We build decades of experience into every enterprise solution, ensuring
that our customers can manage the security, compliance and health of their
Active Directory, Windows, Exchange, and MIIS environments with total,
unparalleled confidence. Our solutions enable organizations to improve
security and policy compliance, increase access availability, prevent
costly disruptions, and enhance management efficiencies. NetPro counts the
U.S. Army, General Electric and Coors Brewing among its many customers.

Editors Note: NetPro names used in this document are trademarks, which may
be registered in one or more jurisdictions, of NetPro.
Microsoft is a registered trademark, and Active Directory is a trademark of
Microsoft Corp. in the United States and other countries.